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Science Market Update

The University of Southern California is known around the world as being a leader in many fields, including life science research, and even has a separate campus dedicated to teaching and researching health sciences. With 6 basic science departments, 18 clinical departments, 7 research institutes, and dozens of research centers and programs, the Keck School of Medicine on the USC Health Science Campus is continuing to expand and increase life science capabilities. In 2015, the university opened a new $15 million Center for Pullmonary Research as well as a new $10 million Center for Convergent Bioscience.

The ever-growing campus is adding a new department to its impressive list, with the recent establishment of a Translational Genomics Department to be located in the Harlyne J. Norris Research Tower on the USC Health Sciences campus.

The University of Southern California is expanding yet again, thanks in part to a recent $10 million gift from USC Trustee Malcolm Currie and his wife, Barbara. The gift will help support the Keck School of Medicine of USC, as well as construction of the new USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience.

Scientists and health care professionals involved in pulmonary research at University of Southern California are getting a breath of fresh air, and a new building, thanks to a recent grant from The Hastings Foundation.

It was recently announced that the foundation would give a five-year, $7.5 million gift to USC to develop the Hastings Center for Pulmonary Research at Keck Medicine of USC.

Young scientists often contribute in spectacular ways to bioresearch. Without adequate funding, however, many important and dedicated junior scientists are limited in how they are able to contribute to scientific understanding.

Paying for lab equipment, salaries, and adequate research resources can all be limiting factors for some scientists, but perhaps not for junior post doctoral fellows working on stem cell research at the University of Southern California.

Thanks to a recent gift from the Hearst Foundations to USC in the amount of $300,000, exceptional junior postdoctoral fellows can continue to pursue stem cell research and work on important projects at USC.

USC researchers Heinz-Josef Lenz and Min Yu are hoping to put a stop to cancer…literally. Though differing in methodology and the specific foci of their research, both Lenz and Yu are working towards halting cancer proliferation via their groundbreaking research at USC.

As we usher in the new year, many resolve to burn off the fat they stored up during the holiday season. We talked about how biotechnology can help with this endeavor last year in our article about burning fat like a squirrel. Just in time to ring in 2015, the University of Southern California has released a study about a revolutionary way to control fat storage.

In 2017, the University of Southern California will be a little bit larger, thanks to the addition of a new research center. Made possible by a $50 million donation from Gary and Alya Michelson, the USC Michelson Center for Convergence Bioscience will be the largest building on the USC campus (once completed) and will foster collaboration between researchers from different science disciplines.

In Science Market Update articles alone, we have seen the power of stem cells applied to restoring eye function and to repairing the brain at UW Madison. Not to be outdone, the University of Southern California is adding to the list of stem cell applications with its new study into repairing skeletal structures, in particular the ribs.

Last year, we reported on the shocking discovery of bacteria that could create an electric current by trading electrons with each other and their surroundings. The pair of microbiologists at the University of Minnesota who led the research speculated that there was much to learn and understand about these “electric bacteria.” Now research from the University of Southern California proves them right with a breakthrough realization about a special type of electric bacteria that extends electric wires from its body.